Running VPC on iBook?

If I need to do programming in say .NET. Not that I like to but sometimes you have to do it for money. Will I be able to run Virtual PC on my iBook G4. I was told by the shop assistant that iBook is not powerful enough for running virtual PC. and its so expensive, can I do it some other way besides using Virtual PC?

He's asking if it will run, and if there's anything cheaper than VPC. Yes, VPC will run, and yes, there are cheaper alternatives. Anyone looking for speed should just buy a cheap PC--bottom of the barrel will run Windows better than a loaded Dual 2.5 G5.

I would say it depends on your iBook. I switched from a 800MHz laptop PIII PC to a PowerBook 1.0GHz and 512 MB Ram running VPC 6.0. In making my purchase decision I also considered a new 2.8GHz P4 laptop. At first I was very upset with my decision. Compared to the 2.8GHz machine the VPC emulation was soooo sloooow. However it was only a little bit slower than my old Laptop. Thus I was pissed at spending all the extra money on the Apple (it was about $1,000 more expensive) for a slower environment since it seems I spent ALL my time in the VPC. At the time I was doing VB, .NET, and MS Access.

After almost 2 years, I have come to the point where I would not trade my PowerBook for anything and am very happy with the decision I made. My change of heart comes from the fact that I now spend about 30% of my time in VB and MS Access. Thus I run the emulation for only 30% of my work, and can enjoy the apple features for the rest of the time. At 30% of the time, VPC is more than adequate. The IDE is snappy so you only notice performance issues when compiling or running queries. Large compiles and queries take a little longer but unless you are sitting next to a 3.0GHz PC you won't notice the difference.

If you are only using the PC environment 40% of the time or less, and you have a 1GHz G4 iBook or better I think you will be totally satisfied (just don't EVER compare it to a 3.0GHz PC running VB/Access or you will be sad).

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